PISENDEL VIOLIN SONATAS Tomasz Aleksander Plusa violin · Robert Smith cello Earl Christy lute and theorbo · Ere Lievonen harpsichord JOHANN GEORG PISENDEL 1687-1755 Johann Georg Pisendel was born on the 26th December 1687 in Cadolzburg, a Violin Sonatas small town in Bavaria where his father had settled as Cantor in 1680. At the age of ten he joined the Ansbach court chapel as a chorister. Destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, he entered the local court chapel of Ansbach as a chorister in 1697, SILVIUS LEOPOLD WEISS Sonata for solo violin in A minor studying singing with Francesco Antonio Pistocchi and the violin with Pistocchi’s 1687-1750 11. [without tempo indication] 2’46 great friend and fellow Bolognese, Giuseppe Torelli. To have studied with so great a 1. Ouverture (from Sonata 12. Allegro 5’31 master as Torelli at such a young age must have been fundamental to the development for lute No.39 in C) 4’46 13. Giga 4’36 of Pisendel both as a violinist and composer. 14. Variatione 5’41 At the age of sixteen he was a violinist in the court orchestra of Ansbach. In March JOHANN GEORG PISENDEL 1709 Pisendel left Ansbach for Leipzig to study law. His stay in Leipzig enabled him 1687-1755 SILVIUS LEOPOLD WEISS to enter into two friendships which were to continue throughout his life. Sonata for violin and b.c. in C minor 15. Presto (from Sonata On the way to Leipzig, his path led through Weimar, where he made the 2. Adagio – Andante 1’53 for lute No.39 in C) 6’30 acquaintance of Johann Sebastian Bach, who was at that time in service there. Here, 3. Allegro 4’40 Bach gave Pisendel a copy in his own hand of a double violin concerto by Telemann 4. Largo 2’43 JOHANN GEORG PISENDEL (TWV52:G2). Pisendel’s technical wizardry impressed Bach so much so that his 5. Allegro assai 5’06 Sonata for violin and b.c. in C minor violin writing would for evermore bear the imprint of Pisendel’s prowess. Indeed, it 16. Adagio 2’56 is difficult to imagine Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin without Pisendel’s own SILVIUS LEOPOLD WEISS 17. Presto 3’43 fiendish unaccompanied sonata, a work that survives in Pisendel’s hand and partially 6. Sarabande (from Sonata 18. Affettuoso 2’18 in a publication by his great friend Georg Philipp Telemann. for lute No.40 in C) 7’18 19. Vivace 4’09 Shortly after his arrival in Leipzig he met Telemann, who was on his way from Eisenach to Sorau. Pisendel’s and Telemann’s friendship lasted until Pisendel’s JOHANN GEORG PISENDEL death on which Telemann published an ode in honour of his friend. Telemann Sonata for violin and b.c. appears to have sent works directly to Pisendel for a number of years. Four of in G minor Pisendel’s surviving letters to Telemann from what must have been an extensive 7. Larghetto 3’43 Tomasz Aleksander Plusa violin correspondence lasting over four decades are published, complete with commentary 8. Allegro 3’37 Robert Smith cello in Hans Grosse and Hans Rudolf Jung, Georg Philipp Telemann: Briefwechsel: 9. Largo 4’16 Earl Christy lute and theorbo Saemtliche erreichbare Briefe von und an Telemann. (Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag 10. Allegro 2’58 Ere Lievonen harpsichord fuer Musik, 1972). In 1712 Pisendel joined the Dresden court orchestra as a violinist. He remained complete sets of parts for 15 further concerti. He also made copies of concerti by in service at Dresden until his death in 1755. His duties meant that he was amongst Benedetto Marcello and Albinoni who also dedicated a concerto to him. These works the musicians who accompanied the Crown Prince on the Grand Tour, visiting were all acquired on Pisendels death in 1755 by the Electress Maria Josepha and France (1714), Berlin (1715) and Venice (1716/1717). Music making in Venice had reside in Pisendel’s private collection in the Sachsische Landesbibliothek except one a profound effect on Pisendel and the length of his stay enabled him to study with violin sonata RV19 that is curiously held in the Paris Conservatoire. Antonio Vivaldi, with whom he also became friends. Whilst in Italy he also studied Pisendel is believed to have shown Johann Sebastian Bach a sonata of his with Montanari in Rome and travelled to Naples and other Italian cities. He re-visited composition in A minor for unaccompanied violin following his Venetian trip which has Venice in 1717 and renewed his friendship and study with Vivaldi. been claimed (plausibly) as the model for Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin. Their association is recorded in two uncorroborated anecdotes by Hiller. The first After 1718 Pisendel’s trips abroad became less frequent. During this period he became recounts how Vivaldi while walking with Pisendel in St. Marks Square, suddenly broke a pupil of Johann David Heinichen in composition. His compositional legacy, no doubt off the conversation and urged the visitor to return home with him immediately. Privacy due to his performance duties is small but of a high quality. His remaining compositions regained, Vivaldi explained that he had observed four constables shadowing Pisendel show his experience in Italy to be influential and unsurprisingly are dominated by works and asked him whether he had done or said anything forbidden by the authorities. Since for the violin, notably seven violin concerti and sonata’s for solo violin. Pisendel could think of nothing, Vivaldi sought the advice of one of the inquisitors, from Telemann was one of the many people to visit Dresden in 1719 for the celebrations whom he learned that they were looking not for Pisendel but for a man resembling him. surrounding the marriage of the Crown Prince to Maria Josepha. During this visit The second anecdote makes more sense if we know that the Crown Prince was he presented to Johann Georg Pisendel , the man to whom it was dedicated, a violin already familiar with Vivaldi’s work. Vivaldi had dedicated a concerto entitled La concerto in B Flat Major. Judging by the note at the end of the score, “The last Sassiona to him. The Crown Prince asked Pisendel to play a concerto identifiable as Allegro is rather a scribble – better copy follows. Author”, Telemann appears to have RV571 as an operatic entr’acte. During an extended solo passage in the upper register written out the finale in great haste. his accompanists tried to discomfit him by rushing ahead, but he kept his composure On Woulmyers death in 1728 Pisenedel became acting concert master, a position and forced them to slow down by marking the beat vigorously with his foot, much to which was confirmed in 1730. Pisendel, the leading German violinist of his day, the Crown Princes amusement. cultivated musical expression through a sensitive manner of playing. Quantz While in Venice Pisendel collected a large quantity of manuscripts containing the commented on his interpretation of Adagio movements and Hasse on his assured latest works available and particularly those of Vivaldi. Some of these were presented grasp of tempo. His influence ensured the performance of music by Vivaldi, Albinoni, to him by the composer, the autograph manuscripts of three sonatas and six concerti Giuseppe Tartini, Telemann, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Graupner, Stölzel and the bear the inscription “fatto per il Sign. Pisendel.” RV340 dedicated to Pisendel bears Bendas and Grauns. the inscription “per li coglioni” – for the blockheads that surely refers to some bass Pisendel’s influence through teaching, his most famous pupils being Franz Benda figures Vivaldi had included for the copyists benefit. The majority of the music and Johann Gottleib Graun must have also been significant particularly with respect however was copied by Pisendel himself, including 22 concerti, 7 violin sonatas and to the court of Frederick the Great. The following anecdotal extract provides us with the picture of virtuosi making Pisendel as a composer music for their own pleasure and mentions the viola pomposa, whose invention is Pisendel studied composition with Heinichen. He wrote a violin concerti, Concerti ascribed to Johann Sebastian Bach. grossi of which one was offered for a new catholic court church in Dresden. “In Carneval of the year 1738, Benda, upon the invitation of the concertmaster Furthermore, there are compositions for a violin solo as well as 4 voiced instrumental (Johann Georg Pisendel), who had friendly correspondence with him, travelled to fuges for the church. His perception was very sharp to the point of putting a rest, or Dresden to hear Hasses’s opera La Clemenza di Tito. There he became acquainted not, in a musical frase was of great importance to him. His dexterity in composing with the Imperial Russian Ambassador Count von Keyserlingk, who, as a great was tangible. He was never satisfied with his compositions, recomposing and lover and connoisseur of music, was very gracious to him. In this noble household correcting them time and again. This could be a reason why there are so few of his Benda had the opportunity to hear the famous lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss in all compositions. his power. One day Weiss invited Benda and Pisendel to lunch and secretly had Benda’s Pisendel’s musical ideas influenced the picture of an end of the 18th century music. violin case brought along. In the afternoon he was asked to play a solo on the violin, Hasse, didn’t compose any opera without a preliminary consultation with a which Pisendel accompanied with the viola pomposa. After the first solo another concertmaster considering bowing, articulation, expressive marks and other technical was demanded, and so it went until midnight.